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However, the Spanish Flu had some things going for it that were rather unique and unlikely to ever occur again: vast displacements of vast numbers of people, va
by mtts 13y ago
However, the Spanish Flu had some things going for it that were rather unique and unlikely to ever occur again: vast displacements of vast numbers of people, vast numbers of people in poor health due to years of deprivation as a result of food shortages and young adults being in especially poor health (Normally men of fighting age are the healthiest members of a population. After four years in the trenches, not so much).
The Spanish Flu clouds the issue somewhat, as it's always the first thing people think of when they hear the words "flu epidemic" but it's also the most unusual of all such epidemics.
- hga 13y agoFrom the limited accounts I've read this doesn't explain well the US homeland experience, except of course by the late '50s the population was likely quite a bit healthier. The research on the recovered strain that reproduces in monkeys the "classic symptoms of the 1918 pandemic, and [dying] from a cytokine storm" is of concern (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic#Spanish_flu_research http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic#Spanish_flu_r...), as are the intensely lethal strains that keep popping up, but fortunately with little to no human to human transmision.
- cantos 13y agoMany people would have been displaced in 1918-19 (though I can't find a good number). I think mostly they would have been soldiers since it was largely fought outside of cities. In any case in 2013 there are more than 1 billion people [1] who travel internationally each year so that condition isn't unique to the spanish flu. [1] Wikipedia - tourism
- mtts 13y agoYeah, I meant soldiers. They travelled far, came into close contact with large numbers of other soldiers and then brought back the flu with them to their home communities when they were repatriated. Modern mass tourism is pretty bad as well, but it's a far cry from having all of the young men in your town getting shipped out and back in again.
- hga 13y agoSoldiers wouldn't be infecting Pacific Islands, far northern mining camps, where scientists first tried to get a copy of its genetic material, people in and around Brevig Mission, Alaska (fatality rate 85%) where the first useful sample came from. It's been awhile since I've read up on it, but the speed at which it spread, prior to air travel, was frighteningly fast.
- danielharan 13y agoUh - is that assuming no one will be hungry and displaced because of climate chaos?